In responding to the conclusions at COP 13,  the secretariat coordinated the regional training programme in project preparation with a training of trainers workshop in collaboration with UNIDO, UNITAR and CTI. This workshop will be held from 29 September - 1 October 2008 in Vienna.  The expert meeting on technologies for adaptation was organized by the secretariat on 5 April 2008 in Bangkok. 

Under the Convention, the developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in Annex II shall take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer of, or access to, environmentally sound technologies and know-how to other Parties, particularly to developing countries to enable them to implement the provisions of the Convention (Article 4.5). This commitment is echoed in similar provisions under the Kyoto Protocol (Article 10 c). Parties have taken decisions to promote the development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies at each session of the COP more >>

As part of the Marrakesh Accords, at COP 7, Parties were able to reach an agreement to work together on a set of technology transfer activities, grouped under a framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. This framework, contained in the annex to decision 4/CP.7, has five main themes:

• Technology needs & needs assessments
• Technology information
• Enabling environments
• Capacity building
• Mechanisms for technology transfer

At COP 13, Parties adopted a set of actions for enhancing the implementation of the technology transfer framework and agreed that these activities would complement the actions in the technology transfer framework. These actions include the organization of meetings and workshops, the implementation of the results of technology needs identified in TNAs, the further development of the technology transfer information clearinghouse, including a network of technology information centres, actions by governments to create enabling environments that will improve the effectiveness of the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, capacity building activities and technical support for project developers in developing countries. Funding to implement the framework complemented by the set of actions is to be provided through the GEF.

Review of implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention

The COP, at its thirteen session, decided to also refer the issue of development and transfer of technology to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation for consideration in Bali. At the same seesion, the COP, by its decision 4/CP.13, requested Parties to submit to the secretariat, by 15 February 2008, for synthesis and compilation, their views on elements for the terms of reference for the review and assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of Article 4, paragraph 5, and Article 4, paragraph 1 (c), in accordance with decision 13/CP.3.

The SBI, at its twenty-eighth session, noted those submissions and the synthesis report of those views, and requested its Chair to prepare draft terms of reference for the review and assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of Article 4, paragraphs 1(c) and 5, of the Convention for consideration by the SBI at its twenty-ninth session (December 2008), taking into account the submissions from Parties, the deliberations among Parties at this session, and relevant work of the EGTT.

The COP, by its decision 4/CP 13, also requested GEF to elaborate a strategic programme to scale up the level of investment for technology transfer for consideration by SBI 28. The report of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on a strategic programme to scale up the level of investment for technology transfer, presented at the twenty-eighth session of the SBI and noted by the SBI. The SBI encouraged the GEF to consider the discussion on this issue taking place at this session, noting the concerns of Parties, in the elaboration of the options related to the strategic programme. Parties looked forward to considering a further report, to be provided by the GEF to the SBI for consideration at its twenty-ninth session, outlining a programme that fully addresses the elements called for in paragraph 3 of decision 4/CP.13 such as the need for broad and balanced consultation with Parties and how such a strategic programme might be implemented along with its relationship to existing and emerging activities and initiatives. The SBI also invited the GEF, when further elaborating the strategic programme, to take into consideration that:

• The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention is deliberating on enhanced action on technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation, now, up to and beyond 2012;
• The EGTT is undertaking work on financing of technology development and transfer, and on elaborating a long-term strategy on technology (more>>).

The Marrakesh Accords provide also for the establishment of an Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT), nominated by the Parties. The COP at its thirteenth session agreed to reconstitute the EGTT for a further five years. The Expert Group comprises 19 experts, including three members from each of the developing country regions (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean), one from the small island developing states, eight from Annex I Parties, and one from other non-Annex I Parties. The objectives of the Expert Group are to enhance the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention and to advance technology transfer activities under the Convention and to make recommendations to this end to the SBSTA and the SBI. more >>

The secretariat upon the request by the COP and SBSTA has developed a technology information system (TT:CLEAR), including an inventory of environmentally friendly technologies and projects, as well as its technology web page. The main objective of TT:CLEAR is to improve the flow of, access to and quality of information relating to the development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies under the Article 4.5 of the Convention and to contribute to more efficient use of available resources by achieving synergy with other ongoing efforts.  more >>